The Story of Gamma Team
by Spartan Anthony-7115
Summary: SPARTAN TEAM: RED-GAMMA GAMMA TEAM : ANTON-044 - LI-008 - CASSANDRA-075 - GRACE-093
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHORS NOTE:_ This is my first FanFiction ever. Please give feedback, I like to know what people think. Any ideas on how to make it better, please, let me know. This is based on SPARTAN ANTON-044, the leader of Gamma Team. It will eventually cover the time between the SPARTAN graduation all the way to the death of the Team._**

**Thanks, and enjoy!**

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**Time:0450 Hours, June 7, 2525 (Military Calendar)/**

**Location: Reach; Secret UNSC SPARTAN Training Facility**

SPARTAN 044, also known as Anton, tucked his head in and rolled to his left, coming to a kneeling position with his rifle at the ready. He didn't take care to aim- the enemy was everywhere and there was no way he could miss. His rifle sprayed bullets into his enemy and he heard their blood curtailing, guttural cries and moans. The enemy sounded human but he couldn't be sure. They were all just shadows. Anton realized he was dreaming when he couldn't see the faces of his dyeing opponents. With that, he unloaded his remaining ammunition and allowed them to over take him.

Anton woke with a start. The last few moments of his dream had seemed real enough, had felt real enough, until he had tried to look at his enemy. He knew he shouldn't be shook up, but he was. He couldn't help it. Something was about to happen, but he wasn't sure. He had these premonitions before, but sometimes they turned out false. And usually he didn't remember until it was too late.

The SPARTAN sat up on his bunk. He was wearing Navy Issue sleepwear; a blue t-shirt and a grey pair of sweats, with the identification "SPARTAN-044 ANTON" on each garment. His brown eyes stared into the gloom of the Barracks, out over his sleeping comrades. They seemed so peaceful, but he knew they were killers. Each as efficient as he himself was. Each had the ability to take on several armed men at the same time- and win.

Raising a strongly muscled hand to his head, he felt his close cropped hair. It felt a little prickly, but that just meant it was well kept, at least by his standards. Looking over at the clock mounted above the door to the Barracks, he knew it was almost time for the rest of the SPARTANS trainees to get ready for the days training exercise. Anton stood and moved silently to another bunk. Lying in the bed was the sleeping form of another member of Anton's team, Li-008. Anton rested his hands on Li's shoulders and gently shook. Li woke suddenly and grabbed Anton's wrist, but let go when he realized who it was that woke him.

"Anton! Why are you waking me up? I'm tired, and I need my sleep. We were up until 0300 this morning in the gym doing weight testing for the Chief!" Li scolded his friend in a hushed, though annoyed, voice. Nether SPARTAN wanted to wake any of the others yet. It was too early.

"You know perfectly well why I'm waking you. It's almost 0500 and I want to be at the training grounds by 0530. I want Gamma Team to be first in line. It never hurts to give the Chief a good impression." Anton told him gruffly, though he too kept a hushed voice. "Wake Grace and Cass and be ready to leave in ten, got it?"

Li glared at him a moment, then gave Anton the satisfaction of a curt nod.

Anton turned back to his own bunk and began to undress. When he was fully undressed, he kneeled and pulled a plastic bin out from under the bed. From it he pulled a full set of olive-drab fatigues. Although they were more commonly worn by Marines, the SPARTANs wore this during many of their training exercises. They were certainly useful for carrying extra ammunition, and an assortment of other things he took with him during training exercises.

After dressing, Anton checked on Li to see that he was just pulling his own fatigues on, and Grace-093 and Cassandra-075 climbing out of their own beds and beginning to strip. He sat on his bed and slipped his feet into his boots. Taking care that they were tied just the way he liked them, he noticed all three of his squad mates pulling their own boots on.

Looking up at the clock Anton was impressed. The entire process of waking and dressing in the most basic gear had taken less than 2 minutes. Although this was near record time, he knew they needed to drop that time significantly to be truly ready for the battle field. They would need to be able to wake and run in about 60 seconds in order to be as good as Anton wanted them. But that would just take practice.

When all four SPARTANs were totally ready, they walked silently together through the darkness and to the door of the Barracks. Anton opened the door and marched through, followed by Li, Cassandra, and Grace respectively.

Once Gamma Team had closed the Barrack doors they were free to talk openly, however they remained silent for several minutes as they walked to the supply room on the other end of the training camp. There was no real need to speak, they had grown up together. They knew each other's body language so well that the smallest flicker of the eye could indicate something that would go unnoticed by anyone who wasn't paying close attention.

Anton was the first to break the silence, and then only when they were halfway to the supply shed. "I am proud of you. All of you." he started.

"Mind telling us why you are proud?" Asked Cassandra, who was walking directly to his left.

"Because I believe that Gamma Team is the best team of SPARTANs in the UNSC, second only to Blue Team. Maybe." He smiled, something that the rest of the team would know meant what he said was true. The team trusted him. They trusted each other. They were brothers and sisters, closer than any real family.

Gamma Team had been formed shortly after the SPARTANs had begun their training, and through the years they had learned many lessons together. They had been the first SPARTAN team to form, and the only Team to stick together throughout the years of gruesome training. The SPARTANs of Gamma Team loved each other. Each would give his or her own life for any other member of the squad, and that was something to be proud of.

The four SPARTANs walked up and into the supply shed. They knew they were in for some kind of field exercise, so they grabbed bags and filled them with obvious essentials. They each packed one weeks rations, 25 feet of rope, and several sets of basic tools, such as a hunting knife, screwdrivers of several styles, and lock picking tools. These were the things that were always allowed on field exercise. Other equipment such as their training MA5's, MA5B's, SMG's, and M6's would be given to them if they were allowed in the particular exercise. And usually they weren't.

As the four SPARTANs of Gamma Team left the shed, Anton noticed that John-117 and his Blue Team were just now making their way towards the supply shed. The two teams passed each other without so much as a glance. Any other day, the two team leaders would have stopped and spoken to one another. But today was different. Today they were enemies, for the time being, at least.

Anton led his team to the training grounds, where Chief Mendez had told the Spartans to meet the night before. The Chief was standing smoking a cigar that was recognizable as a Sweet William by it's scent. There were ten Drill Instructors mulling around the Chief, along with three Warthogs, each of a different style, a Pelican, and a Scorpion anti-air tank. Anton wondered what the training exercise was when he saw a truck drive up and two more Drill Instructors jump out of the cab. The two men walked to the back of the truck and pulled several large crates off the bed and placed them on the grass.

The crates were instantly recognizable as weapons crates, and he was excited to see that the label on one of them read "MA5B" which was his favorite weapon to date. That and the SMG, but those were considered too dangerous, even when the only round used was TTR grade.

Twenty minutes later, Anton and his team were joined by the rest of the SPARTANs. When they were all accounted for, Chief Mendez began.

"Atten-shun!" He called in a booming voice that seemed to carry around the training field. 75 young SPARTANs organized into neat and tidy rows. Teams Blue, Green, and Gamma were in front, with teams Gray, Black, and Noble behind them in the second row, and teams Alpha, Beta, and Omega in the third row, with the ten SPARTAN squad of Delta Team in the very back.

"SPARTANs!" Mendez continued, "This will be your final training mission. After this, you will each go through the final augmentations. Some of you will die during that process. However, you will be graduating tomorrow… Assuming you complete your objective today."


	2. Chapter 2

**Time:0700 Hours, June 10, 2525 (Military Calendar)/**

**Location: Reach; Secret UNSC Hospital**

Three days later, the SPARTANs were preparing to enter the very final stage of their training. Augmentations. This process, they had been briefed, would be excruciatingly painful. However, it would make them the best soldiers in the UNSC. Each SPARTAN trainee had been given the chance to back out, to halt their training and not become full SPARTANs. But out of seventy-five recruits, seventy-five were willing to take the procedures. They all wanted to put their lifetime of training to use against real enemies.

The SPARTANs filed into an elevator that would take them to the lowest levels of the hospital, which had been cleared in order to allow these procedures to take place. Anton, Cass, Grace, and Li stood next to each other in Elevator A, but none of the four said a word. They knew that there was grim chance that they wouldn't all survive. Losing even one of the SPARTAN trainees would be tragic, they knew, but losing half of their brothers and sisters? That was almost too hard to bear.

The elevator was white, all around it, just like the rest of the hospital. It gave the whole place a sterile look. _Of course,_ Anton thought, _that's probably what they're going for. It gives the patients the _illusion _that the place is sanitary_. The thought made him chuckle inwardly. On the outside, he like his brothers and sisters, remained grim faced and determined. No one spoke. No one moved. It was like they were standing at attention. Even though they weren't.

The blank doors to the elevator slid open once it had reached the level it needed to get to. John-117 was the first SPARTAN to step off. Anton couldn't tell if it was because he was the bravest, or because he had been closest to the door. Regardless, Anton stepped out third, followed closely by his teammates. The hallway they stepped into gave the same air of sterility that they had experienced before, but for some reason, this seemed different. He couldn't seem to put a finger on it, though.

Doctor Catherine Halsey showed the SPARTANs to a room just big enough to hold all 75 of them, and not much else. Several seats lined the white walls, but no SPARTAN dared to sit. This was not the time for relaxation. They were about to enter the most important, not to mention painful, part of their training. It was also the last stage in becoming the first full SPARTANs ever.

Anton motioned for Gamma Team to huddle around him. He needed to give them some kind of pep talk, but he couldn't think of anything to say. A lump rose from his stomach to his throat. He needed to say something, but he looked past Li's face and at the wall. He let his mind wander for a moment. Visions of his team battling Insurrectionists filled his mind, but he forced himself to blink the images away. He realized that several doctors in white lab coats had entered the room, and they would soon have to part, for what could be the last time.

Cass put her hand on his shoulder and whispered his name "Anton…" she trailed off. He couldn't be sure, but he thought he could detect some unfamiliar emotion in her blue eyes. He couldn't be sure, but he drew strength from them. He was ready for this, and so was she. They all were.

"Gamma Team," he paused for a moment. He looked at Li, who was recovering from a black eye that he had received from one of the other SPARTANs during the training exercise three days prior. He smiled, and Anton returned the gesture. Next he looked at Grace, who's eyes were beginning to tear up. This was uncommon, especially for a SPARTAN. "Good luck, and I'll see you on the other side."

With that, the team separated and Anton walked to the doctor who had called his SPARTAN Tag. "SPARTAN-044?" The woman asked in a light tone, knowing that leaving his team was the last thing he wanted to do. A few moments delay would do the procedure no harm. But, it was time, so she led him down a long corridor, with doors on either side. Above each was the only non-white in the entire building, or so it seemed, a silver plate with a SPARTAN Tag engraved in it.

When they came to the door with his Tag above it, the doctor opened the door and held it open for him. It was a simple gesture, but it meant a lot to a SPARTAN. He went inside to find a small room filled with medical-grade equipment he had never seen, nor heard of, in his life. It was almost frightening.

"SPARTAN-044, please undress and lay down on that bed." The woman's tone was a little harder now. No longer was it time for pleasantries. It was time to get down to business. Anton complied, folding his clothes neatly and handing them to the woman, who took them and placed the garments in a receptacle with a white snap-on lid.

Anton lay on the cold metal bed and shivered, but was thankful when it quickly warmed to match his body temperature. Some small comfort in the endless sea of pain he was about to experience. The woman spoke again, telling him that there would be a ten minute wait before the other doctors would be ready to begin the augmentation procedure.

It was the fastest and the slowest ten minutes of his life. He went over his training, mentally rehearsing ways of blocking out pain. He let his mind wonder, not wanting to dwell on the pain that lay ahead of him. His mind played back the first day of his training.

Doctor Halsey stood in front of seventy-five children between the ages four and six. Her voice had passed out over the children. It had had enraged some of them, while giving hope to others. Anton had remained silent. _"__You have been called upon to serve, you will be trained...and you will become the best we can make of you. You will be the Protectors of Earth__and all her Colonies__"_ she had said. And it was about to become true.

Three doctors entered the room. Two women and one man walked into the room and stood around him. The first woman had dark colored skin, black hair, and brown eyes. The second woman was white skinned, blond hair, and green eyes, which were stunning, not so much pretty. The man also had black hair, a mustache, and blue eyes. He was the first of the three to break the silence.

"SPARTAN-044, we are going to give you a large quantity of painkillers, morphine to be more accurate, which should put you under for the first stage of the augmentations. In the second stage, you will not be allowed to have anything as they could reduce the chance of the success of the treatment. In the third stage, you will be given another boost of meds to allow you to sleep your way through the entire process." He paused, as if debating if he should tell the SPARTAN something else. "We need to strap you down to the bed to prevent the bodily harm that you may inflict upon yourself or others during these processes. Do you understand everything I have said?"

"Yes sir." Anton replied, looking each of the two female doctors in the eye for several seconds, and then at the man. "I'm ready sir."

"Good." With that, the doctor stuck a needle into Anton's arm. Almost immediately he began to feel drowsy but didn't fall asleep. "I need you to count backwards from one hundred for me, SPARTAN-044."

Anton fought the pain meds. He had an order and he was determined to carry it out. "One hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight, ninety-seven…" his voice began to blur and he couldn't see the faces of the doctors clearly anymore. He began to say the next number in sequence but everything went black instead.

SPARTAN-044 held his rifle to the ready. His finger rest on the trigger and he squeezed. Bullets burped out, flashing in the semi-darkness. No matter how many bullets he fired, he couldn't seem to take down his enemy. His enemy was much too strong. It must have had a shield of some kind. He thought he felt a bullet from his enemy's weapon penetrate his armor. It felt like the sting of a bee on some kind of steroid. He felt the wound and realized he was bleeding. Another shot breached his suit. It too was leaking scarlet red liquid. A third shot, too, and a fourth and fifth. He fell to his knees, not being able to bear the pain any longer and stay on his feet.

Anton woke with a start. His arms felt like they were on fire. He wanted to scream. He had to dive into a freezing pond. Every cell in his body was in pain. Every inch of his existence screamed out. He could only imagine that this was what it was like in hell. With flames licking at his face and skin. He let out a moan of pain. He had had broken ribs before, but never had he felt anything _this_ bad. This was excruciatingly painful. _This is what it is like to die,_ he thought as a fresh wave of pain washed over him. It was as though he was being dipped into a boiling water, and then into magma from the core of the planet.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the door open and the doctors come into his room. He wanted to open his mouth and scream at the top of his lungs for them to make it stop, but he couldn't. He couldn't find the strength to open his mouth. He tried, but it was impossible.

One of the three doctors, the woman with blond hair, came to his side. Her eyes looked down on him with pity. She could see the intense pain that was filling every inch of him. She hung a new I.V. Drip bag from the hanger above his bed. He sighed with relief, thinking that the pain was about to go away. However, as soon as the new medications entered his body a new wave of pain entered. This was many times worse then what he had just gone through. This was a pain like every bone in his body was breaking. He felt as though he had landed after a fall of three hundred miles without a parachute. His bones were being crushed and ground to dust. It was unbearable.

For hours Anton battled this pain, unable to even try to sleep it off. Eventually he began to block the pain out, as it had become a constant that he was beginning to get used to. When the doctors returned, he struggled to get away from them. He tried to tell them not to make him go through more of this inhumane, cruel form of pain.

To his relief, he didn't even need to tell them. In fact, if he had told them, they would have taken it as a sign that the medications had not taken effect yet, and would have upped them a little more. However, the new drip bag they hooked to his I.V. made him fade into darkness and fall into a fitful slumber.

Three days later, a gentle hand prodded him awake. He blinked his eyes open to find Doctor Halsey looking down on him with gentle, concerned eyes. She whispered his name quietly "Anton, Anton wake up. Your augmentations are over. You've survived. You are unharmed."

Anton's mouth felt dry, but it was nothing compared to the fire he had felt before. He began to sit up but he did so too quickly and nearly hit the doctor's head with his. "I feel stiff…" He said but the doctor cut him off.

"Anton, I have bad news for you…" Halsey started, but her voice trailed off. Her eyes filled with tears and Anton could see this was very difficult for her to say. He wished she would spit it out. The time lapse was terrible. It was almost as bad mentally as the procedures had been physically. "Cassandra…"

The SPARTAN gasped with horror. _Cassandra, dead? It just couldn't be!_ "No!" Anton cried, but he was cut off by the doctor again.

"She is not dead, Anton, but she has suffered terrible injury due to the augmentation procedure. She will be discharged and sent to a top secret rehabilitation facility to attempt to allow her to recover." The doctor whipped a tear from her eye and studied the SPARTAN for several moments. He bowed his head, and for the first time since becoming a SPARTAN; he wept.


End file.
